Breaking Things Down: Russell's New 'So Far So Good'

Just last spring we shared Simona's handmade bike for touring and randonneuring. It was the first bike she built and she put it to the test on a journey riding back and forth across the country over the summer. Now she's back and building bikes at Bilenky Cycle Works in Olney and her journey continues.

She's adopted the brand name So Far So Good. It refers to an omen that's taken on mantric significance since being revealed on a sign in a lonely desert during last year's trip. So far, she's planning to focus on building bikes for close friends and family, but her second bike, built for Russell Abernethy, is so good.

If a human rider is the prime mover for a bicycle's drivetrain, Russell is the muscle that's powering a scene. I met Russell while checkpointing a spooky-themed Friday the 13th Alleycat he organized in 2024. Immediately after, he suggested we team up to bring back Cranksgiving Philly. Thanks in big part to his efforts, we pulled it off in two-months and he's been working at redline RPM ever since. Through constant collaboration with other clubs and riders, he's organized at least a dozen alleycat races plus sprints and endurance rides, and even launched RallyKat racing in Philly.

Russell is a prolific collector of bikes. He's cycled through independent and locally built frames, vintage rigs, and a prototype Belmont, among others. If there's something you need, he can find it. Like a chef perfecting a signature dish's recipe, Russell has developed a taste for using high quality ingredients when building a bike. A custom ride from So Far So Good satisfies that gourmet appetite with an uncompromising build kit, a finely tuned fit, and locally made bits.

The new bike's most defining feature is its Ritchey Break-Away system. By loosening just three bolts - two clamped to the seatpost and one securing the downtube coupler - the bike can be quickly broken in half (but in a good way like when you want to share a stroopwafel with your riding buddy). This makes packing the bike up for travel a cinch, and Russell is often on the road for work.

Installing SRAM’s Apex XPLR AXS drivetrain with Pod Controller shifters is like releasing a personal genie. Since no cables or wires are needed to shift effortlessly through 12 gears and a 400% range, breaking the bike down and building it back up is as easy as abracadabra.

It gets even more magical. Since the drivetrain is wireless, Russell need only unbolt the SRAM bits and swap the wheel and chain for a transformation to fixed-gear. Sliding dropouts from legendary Paragon Machine Works (recently acquired by Firsthand Framebuilding) accommodate that conversion too, by providing room for the incremental adjustments needed to maintain chain tension.

All that state-of-the-art tech is balanced with an elegant aesthetic. The lugs are hand-carved by Simona and complemented by a dramatic fork crown from the trendsetting wizards at Bassi. Top-tier Chris King and Paul components are anodize-matched with hand-painted lettering to recall the color palette of SEPTA's Broad Steet subway stations.

If you have a finely-tuned eye you just might have noticed the bike's most unique easter egg. To create the illusion of lugged construction at the break-away point where it's not physically possible, Simona employed an uncommon technique called bilaminate construction. This was accomplished by carving a sleeve to mirror the head tube lugs and then fillet brazing it where the top tube and the seatpost clamp meet. Like a unicorn that's somehow grown wings, the result is truly one-of-a-kind.

Marrying the practicality of Ritchey's off-the-shelf Break-Away system, the technological sorcery of SRAM's wireless shifting, and the classic aesthetic of a vintage lugged bike, this build lands at the zenith of modern framebuilding.

• Frame/Fork: Columbus Zona and SL tubing
• Handlebars: Doom Titanium Curved-Bill Thrasher
• Wheels: Light Bicycle
• Tires: Schwalbe G-One RS Pro 700x43
• Drivetrain: 1x12 SRAM Apex XPLR AXS
• Crankset: 100% Pure Paul Cranks, AARN ring
• Pedals: Sim Works Bubbly
• Seatpost: Paul Tall and Handsome with Sel Italia saddle
• Brakes: Paul Klamper with Love Levers